Miscellaneous. 385 



accidental varieties, various circumstances tend in a wild state to 

 restrict the number of individuals, or cause the varieties to disappear 

 altogether, whilst they nijxy be rendered permanent by cuUivatiou. 



In our opinion, therefore, all that M. Godron has proved is, that 

 Triticum sativum and ^Efjilops ovata are species so nearly allied, that 

 they hvbridize with a facility very unusual amongst grasses ; but we re- 

 assert, that this is no proof that the two plants are distinct species. 



To this we would add, that neither M. Godrou nor M. Alexis Jordan, 

 who has filled 1 00 pages of the Memoirs of the Academy of Sciences 

 of Lyons with speculations upon the origin of domesticated plants, 

 have attempted to explain what the origin of wheat has been, if it is 

 not a domesticated condition of ^gilops, as M. Fabre's experiments, 

 in our opinion, prove it to be. — From the Gardeners' Chronicle for 

 March 10, 1855. 



Mr. Busk's Anomalous Shell. By Prof. J. S. Henslow. 



To the Editors of the Annals of Natural History. 



Hitcham, Suffolk, April 17, 1855. 

 Gentlemen, — I had not seen Dr. Gray's explanation of Mr. Busk's 

 anomalous Oj'ster-shell till after I had forwarded my notice of the 

 fossil in the Ipswich INIuseum, which I considered likely to oifer a 

 solution of the mystery. I have since been favoured by Mr. Busk 

 with an oyster-shell attached in the way described by Dr. Gray, and 

 I am quite disposed to admit that gentleman's explanation to be the 

 correct one. Dr. Gray has also written to me to say he " described 

 in the ' Philosophical Transactions ' for 1833 the fact, that the pecu- 

 liarities on the surface of a body to which a shell is attached are 

 sometimes shown on the surface of the upper or free valve." The 

 Ipswich specimen is therefore only an additional illustration of a fact 

 long since uoticed by my distinguished friend. 



Yours faithfully, 



J. S. Henslow. 



On the Fructification of the Arachis hypogaea. 

 By Hugh M. Neisler, Columbus, Geo. 



In studying our Sti/losanthes a few years ago, my attention was 

 attracted by a note in Torrey and Gray's Flora of North America, 

 vol. i. p. 354, viz., " Mr. Bentham, in a paper on the affinities of 

 Arachis, read before the Linnseau Society in 1838, gives an account 

 of the two kinds of flowers in Stylosanthes, and shows its affinity to 

 Arachis, which he considers a genuine Hedysarea.^' I presumed 

 that he supposed the Arachis to have two kinds of flowers, but, 

 wishing to inform myself accurately as to his views, I mentioned the 

 subject to Dr. Torrey in the course of our correspondence, who 

 remarked in reply : " Mr. Bentham says, that Arachis has two kinds 

 of flowers. Those that have all the parts do not perfect their fruit ; 



Ann. 6y- Mag. N. Hist. Ser. 2. Vol. xv. 25 



